Video Monitoring and Analysis System for Vivarium Cage Racks

This invention pertains to a system for continuous observation of rodents in home-cage environments with the specific aim to facilitate the quantification of activity levels and behavioral patterns for mice housed in a commercial ventilated cage rack.  The home-cage in-rack provides daytime and nighttime monitoring with the stability and consistency of a home cage environment.

Novel Antiviral—Griffithsin Derived from Algae—for Prophylaxis or Treatment of Rabies Infection

Rabies virus (RABV) infection leads to fatal encephalitis—inflammation of the brain—if left untreated. Millions of people survive RABV infection each year due to timely administration of post-exposure treatment, however, nearly 60,000 people die from rabies each year according to the World Health Organization. Obstacles to timely treatment for RABV infection include the high cost and burdensome storage requirements (i.e., refrigeration) of current post-exposure treatments (i.e., rabies immunoglobulin (RIG)).

Reversible SNAP-Tag and CLIP-Tag Ligands for Live Cell Imaging

Recently-developed protein tags enable the specific covalent attachment of synthetic ligands, incorporating fluorophores or other substituted groups, to fusion proteins containing these tags. For example, SNAP and CLIP tags bind O6-benzylguanine-containing and O2-benzylcytosine containing ligands respectively, which can be derivatized with a wide variety of labels, including fluorescent dyes, affinity probes, and cross-linkers.

PIM-Targeted PROTACs

Proviral Integration for the Moloney murine leukemia virus (PIM) kinases are overexpressed in many solid cancers – including prostate, breast, colon, endometrial, gastric and pancreatic. High of PIM1 expression is predictive of poor survival in multiple cancer types. While several selective pan-PIM inhibitors were developed and tested in clinical trials, all ultimately increased PIM1-3 protein levels and developed intrinsic resistance. 

Method of Producing Immortalized Primary Human Keratinocytes for HPV Investigation, Testing of Therapeutics, and Skin Graft Generation

One of the major limitations of using cultured keratinocytes for research studies is that primary keratinocytes senesce after a few passages. Keratinocytes from specific anatomical sites are also difficult to culture. Scientists at the NIH have demonstrated that primary keratinocytes, from several anatomical sites, when treated with a small-molecule inhibitor of the ROCK protein maintain a proliferative state and become immortal without genetic modification to the cells.

Dual-Germline Antibody Engager Chimeric HIV–1 Immunogens

Despite four decades of intensive research, a safe and effective HIV-1 vaccine remains elusive due to the extreme difficulty in eliciting broadly neutralizing antibodies (bNAbs), which recognize and block HIV-1 from entering healthy cells. Only rare natural HIV-1 envelopes (Envs) promote the activation and expansion of naive B cells expressing unmutated germline antibodies of various bNAb lineages, but they typically do so for a single lineage for the same neutralization site.

HLA-class II-restricted T Cell Receptors for PIK3CA “Hotspot” Mutations, E545K and N345K

Summary: 

The National Cancer Institute (NCI) seeks co-development partners and/or licensees for a collection of T cell receptors (TCRs) that specifically target PIK3CA mutations to treat patients with tumors expressing these mutations in the context of HLA-DPA1*01:03:01, HLA-DPB1*04:01:01 or HLA-DRB1*04:01.

Description of Technology:

A New Molecular Scaffold for Targeting hRpn13 as a Treatment for Cancer

This technology includes a new chemical scaffold (with lead compound XL5) against hRpn13 that induces apoptosis, which may have clinical efficacy against cancer. The structure of XL5-conjugated hRpn13 guided the design of XL5-PROTAC degrader compounds that exhibit greater efficacy than previous hRpn13-targeting compounds, as evaluated by selectivity for hRpn13, induction of apoptosis, and loss of cell viability. In cells, XL5-PROTACs revealed the presence of a truncated hRpn13 product that binds to proteasomes and is selectively degraded by XL5-PROTACs.

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